Check out the first stills from NBC's Hannibal

NBC's HANNIBAL appears to be shaping up quite nicely for a show that's pitch is essentially "CSI meets RED DRAGON" or "DEXTER with Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham." Mostly it's the spot-on casting that's holding my interest, especially Madds Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter. You can check him out along with the rest of the HANNIBAL gang in the first stills from the show below.

The pics are the typical assortment you'd find in an issue of EW (actually, that's where they're taken from), but the one that stands out is Mikkelsen's Lecter sitting down to an elegant meal. The double meaning there is the sort of blackly humorous detail that fans are going to eat up (pun intended). Executive producer/show runner Bryan Fuller is known for injecting his writing with this sort quirky humor. I just hope they don't lose the edge the character sported in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and MANHUNTER. This guy isn't above wearing people's faces, after all.

The show stars the aforementioned Mikkelsen along with Hugh Dancy, Larry Fishburne and Caroline Dhavernas (who gets her own special sexy pic below). David Slade (30 DAYS OF NIGHT) directs the pilot and you can also see him in action in one of the pics (he's the bald dude standing over a table with Mikkelsen). After you're done checking out the images, feel free to tell us how you're feeling about the series. Will this be Thomas Harris' classic character or just DEXTER-lite?

Extra Tidbit:

Yes, I refer to Laurence Fishburne as "Larry"-- blame his stellar performance in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 where he's credited as such. "Maaaaax!"